British universities: study three years get into debt for 30

British universities, the dark side: study for three years and spend the next 30 years of your life paying back the debt.

Since the tripling of tuition fees decided by Cameron’s government in 2010, many London’s students are in debt even before entering the workforce.

Yeah, that’s the reform of Mr. Cameron on British universities

What should I say? It will make me poor until my 60th birthday,” joked Maisy Wright while laughing. Leaning against the low wall in front of the entrance door of the London South Bank University, in the east of the British capital. The third year student of art does not have her tongue in her pocket. Especially when it comes to saying what she thinks regarding the tripling of tuition fees of British universities in the country, decided by Cameron’s government in 2010 – and entered into force in 2012.

“It is shameful and ridiculous,” says the young woman. Maisy and her friends, Joseph and Simon, were hanging around in front of the hotel, located less than three kilometers from 10 Downing Street. Place where is the prime minister’s office. They are among the tens of thousands of young British students to pay the modest sum of 9,000 pounds per year “about 11,000 euros” – against 3000 in 2011, just to sit down on the benches of their universities.

“This is not a university, it’s a business”

Financial aberration for this group of friends. All students in their final year of bachelor of art. “This is not a university, it’s a business,” added Maisy, the strongest head of the group. She also said that to achieve and validate three years, a student has to pay 27,000 pounds “around 33,000 euros”.

To pay such astronomical sums, the vast majority of students in the UK has no choice but to resort to borrowing. Which is mainly done from to the Student Loans Company, a public financial corporation. Maisy, Rachel and the others are no exception to the rule. But since 2012 the sums borrowed are sky high. You need to have enough to pay for the university but also the rent, food and bill.

“I calculated that it will take me about 40 years to pay off my loan,” joked her friend Rachel MacArthur also angry just as her friends. I have 45,000 euros of debt as I am talking to you. I pay 120 pounds a week for my bedroom alone. “Very few students have parents that may cope with such expenses.

I thought to stop thousands of times

According to “The Guardian”, British universities have already registered a fall of 8.8% of enrollments as of September 2012, compared to 2010.

This figure does not surprise Rachel: “I thought about quitting college thousands of times. I fear when I think of what I need. Many of her friends have left at the end of the first year. They went to other schools at the University of Sheffield and Hull “in the center of England”. Where charges are identical but life cheaper than in London. According to them, nearly 10% of students from the class of the first year drama did not return the following year.

Statistics of British universities

Even at the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE) in the ultra-central London, there is concern for the consequences of these exorbitant rates. We have not registered a drop in enrollment since 2012, announced immediately Nona Buckley-Irvine, general secretary of the student union of the school. But this stagnation does not mean much, she said.

According to Nona, the ever-growing movement of foreign students, often affluent, may hide in the statistics a possible decline of English students. Anyway, this reform is a “disaster,” she says. “It’s not just the financial aspect, there is also the psychological impact, she adds. Starting a working life with such large debts, it is devastating.”

Nearly 40% of loans may never be paid back

Next to her, Mahamid Ahmed, masters student of economics at the LSE, agrees. Although his curriculum should bring it to find a suitable job – “banker” or “diplomat” Nona slides – it does not seem certain. “I have to repay 30 000. As soon as I finish my studies I’ll have to find anything to start making some money and pay back the debt.”

In the UK, a student begins to repay the loan at the end of his school career when he makes at least 21,000 pounds per year. But above all,in the British system, the debt is automatically canceled after thirty years. According to Mike writer at Netnewstimes, nearly 40% of universities loans may never be repaid back by their deadlines.

Maisy and others will perhaps be a part of those. I would like to work in a theater company, explains Maisy, but in these areas, incomes are irregular and wages are low. Simon adds: I would like to be a special effects technician, and unemployment in this sector is very high. Only Joseph is a bit more confident. I want to be an actor, and if everything works, I will repay my debt in a blink of an eye.

British universities: study three years get into debt for 30 | Netnewstimes